Popcorn Peacemaking is a peaceCENTER program that uses popular
Popcorn Peacemaking is a peaceCENTER program that uses popular
Popcorn Peacemaking is a peaceCENTER program that uses popular
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<strong>Popcorn</strong> <strong>Peacemaking</strong> <strong>is</strong> a<br />
<strong>peaceCENTER</strong> <strong>program</strong> <strong>that</strong> <strong>uses</strong><br />
<strong>popular</strong>, readily available videos to<br />
explore the h<strong>is</strong>tory and principles<br />
of peace and justice.<br />
Each study guide for the series cons<strong>is</strong>ts of a brief<br />
h<strong>is</strong>torical or contextual overview, an explanation<br />
of why the film was selected, recommended<br />
excerpts for showing and several suggested<br />
d<strong>is</strong>cussion questions.<br />
We have tried to select videos <strong>that</strong> are suitable<br />
for all audiences. However, one of the contradictions<br />
of nonviolence <strong>is</strong> <strong>that</strong> it <strong>is</strong> often practiced<br />
in violent situations. Many of the videos have an<br />
R Rating. In all cases, the teacher or d<strong>is</strong>cussion<br />
leader should watch the entire film and decide<br />
on its suitability for the intended audience.<br />
If time permits, it <strong>is</strong> ideal to show the entire<br />
film to the group. However, given <strong>that</strong> most<br />
videos are at least two hours long and time <strong>is</strong><br />
needed for reflection and d<strong>is</strong>cussion, the<br />
<strong>peaceCENTER</strong> has selected excerpts from the<br />
videos. When time <strong>is</strong> short, these excerpts can be<br />
shown in lieu of airing the entire video and the<br />
whole film can be shown at a more convenient<br />
time, or participants can be encouraged to<br />
borrow, rent or buy the video for later viewing<br />
with family or friends. The times of the excerpts<br />
are approximate. If there <strong>is</strong> only time to show<br />
one excerpt the “best choice” <strong>is</strong> usually marked<br />
with an eyeglass icon �<br />
If the entire film <strong>is</strong> not shown to the group, the<br />
d<strong>is</strong>cussion leader should introduce the clip with<br />
a few sentences <strong>that</strong> put it in context.<br />
In addition to the specific d<strong>is</strong>cussion questions,<br />
there <strong>is</strong> also a general question and answer<br />
format for d<strong>is</strong>cussing movies.<br />
Most of these films can be rented from video<br />
rental stores, or can be checked out of the local<br />
library. Most of the videos are available for<br />
check out from the Arun and Sunanda Gandhi Peace<br />
and Justice Resource Center (call 210/224-HOPE<br />
to arrange for pickup) and many can be purchased<br />
at the <strong>peaceCENTER</strong> online bookstore, in association<br />
with Amazon.com (www.salsa.net/peace/<br />
amazon).<br />
Th<strong>is</strong> project will be under constant development,<br />
so if you have any suggestions, please forward<br />
them to the <strong>peaceCENTER</strong> at the address below.<br />
E-Mail comments and suggestions can be sent to<br />
suives@texas.net.<br />
Focused on a m<strong>is</strong>sion of God’s Peace, the <strong>peaceCENTER</strong> supports<br />
the learning of peace in our lives<br />
and the demonstration of peace within our community.<br />
For more information: <strong>peaceCENTER</strong>, 1443 S. St. Mary’s, San Antonio, TX 78210<br />
(210) 224-HOPE www.salsa.net/peace
Th<strong>is</strong> format was developed in<br />
order to “spiral” a conversation<br />
down to a deeper level and to<br />
explore what a movie might have<br />
to say to us as individuals and as a<br />
society.<br />
The format begins with questions<br />
<strong>that</strong> everybody can answer - the<br />
facilitator should make sure <strong>that</strong><br />
everyone gets at least one<br />
response in at the objective level,<br />
th<strong>is</strong> makes it easier for participants<br />
to choose to participate at the<br />
“harder” question levels.<br />
All of the questions l<strong>is</strong>ted are<br />
suggestions - once you get the idea<br />
of the kind of question <strong>that</strong><br />
belongs in each category you can<br />
make up your own. Ask questions<br />
only for as long as you want <strong>that</strong><br />
part of the conversation to last -<br />
you don’t have to ask all the<br />
questions!<br />
It <strong>is</strong> suggested <strong>that</strong> the facilitator<br />
watch the movie first, walk<br />
through the process/sample<br />
questions and then create your l<strong>is</strong>t<br />
of possible questions for each<br />
level.<br />
When facilitating the<br />
conversation, when you feel like<br />
the group <strong>is</strong> ready to move on to a<br />
deeper level in the conversation<br />
you ask a deeper question and<br />
skip the rest of the questions you<br />
have at <strong>that</strong> level.<br />
<strong>Popcorn</strong> <strong>Peacemaking</strong><br />
Question Format for Movie Conversations<br />
Objective<br />
(What do you remember?)<br />
What words do you<br />
remember, sounds, music...?<br />
What scene <strong>is</strong> still playing in<br />
your head?<br />
Who were the main<br />
characters - their names/<br />
relationships?<br />
Reflective<br />
(What happened?)<br />
Were you surpr<strong>is</strong>ed at<br />
anything the characters said,<br />
did...?<br />
At what point did the<br />
audience/you laugh? Why?<br />
Did you find yourself<br />
looking around to see if anyone<br />
was crying? When?<br />
How did th<strong>is</strong> movie make<br />
you feel? Frustrated, angry,<br />
elated... Why?<br />
Interpretive<br />
(What was th<strong>is</strong> movie all about?)<br />
What was the creator of the<br />
movie trying to say? or What did<br />
the movie say?<br />
Is there a bigger story behind<br />
the movie?<br />
Why do you think the creator<br />
made the movie?<br />
What questions were ra<strong>is</strong>ed<br />
for you?<br />
What social/political/<br />
psychological statement was<br />
made?<br />
Have you seen anything like<br />
th<strong>is</strong> happen in your life?<br />
Dec<strong>is</strong>ional<br />
(What relevance does th<strong>is</strong> movie<br />
have to my life?)<br />
Who did you identify with?<br />
Why?<br />
Is it relevant/true/happening<br />
today? Why..?<br />
Is th<strong>is</strong> an <strong>is</strong>sue <strong>that</strong> you,<br />
personally, would like to see<br />
something done about? What<br />
could be done?<br />
Has the <strong>is</strong>sue been addressed<br />
in other places or times?<br />
If you were going to begin to<br />
exert your influence to change<br />
things, what would you do? What<br />
could you do?<br />
For more information: <strong>peaceCENTER</strong>, 1443 S. St. Mary’s, San Antonio, TX 78210<br />
(210) 224-HOPE www.salsa.net/peace/popcorn
Books<br />
�Saint Paul at the Movies: The<br />
Apostle's Dialog with American<br />
Culture by Robert Jewett,<br />
Westminster, 1993<br />
A Chr<strong>is</strong>tian context of 11<br />
movies of the ’80s, offering a<br />
fresh look at both the movies<br />
and New Testament theology.<br />
�Finding Meaning at the<br />
Movies, by Sara Anson Vaux,<br />
Abingdon, 1999<br />
Thoughtful commentary on a<br />
number of <strong>popular</strong> and awardwinning<br />
films <strong>is</strong> refreshing in its<br />
heavy emphas<strong>is</strong> on “values”<br />
and critical “<strong>is</strong>sues”<br />
�Lights Camera .. Faith! A<br />
Movie Lectionary - Cycle A, by<br />
Peter Malone and Rose<br />
Pacatte, Pauline Books and<br />
Media, 2001<br />
Explores 72 films in the light of<br />
Chr<strong>is</strong>tian scripture.<br />
Reel Spirituality : Theology and<br />
Film in Dialogue by Robert K.<br />
Johnston, Baker Book House,<br />
2000<br />
Guide Chr<strong>is</strong>tian moviegoers<br />
into a theological analys<strong>is</strong> of<br />
and conversation with film<br />
Praying the Movies: Daily<br />
Meditations from Classic Films,<br />
by Ed McNulty, Geneva Press,<br />
2001<br />
31 devotions <strong>that</strong> connect<br />
movies with the spiritual life of<br />
movie goers.<br />
Web Sites<br />
www.sign<strong>is</strong>.net<br />
The international Catholic association<br />
for communications<br />
includes current jury prizes for<br />
film festivals and reviews.<br />
www.pauline.com/mediastudies<br />
Media literacy in faith<br />
communities, includes some indepth<br />
movie reviews and links,<br />
sponsored by the Daughters of<br />
St. Paul.<br />
www.HollywoodJesus.com<br />
Th<strong>is</strong> ecumenical web site <strong>is</strong><br />
dedicated to finding Chr<strong>is</strong>tian<br />
spirituality in movies with<br />
searchable archive<br />
http://www.catholic.org.au<br />
Four film reviews a month from<br />
the Australian Conference of<br />
Catholic B<strong>is</strong>hops.<br />
www.chiafilm.com<br />
Th<strong>is</strong> site <strong>is</strong> named for<br />
Chiaroscuro, the interplay of<br />
light and shade in an image<br />
and seeks to move beyond the<br />
culture wars and encourage a<br />
conversation between the<br />
cinema and Chr<strong>is</strong>tian<br />
spirituality. Contains new<br />
reviews, retrospectives and<br />
essays.<br />
www.beliefnet.com<br />
Comparative religion<br />
community, includes movie<br />
reviews<br />
www.cityofangelsfilmfest.org<br />
Inter-faith film festival site with<br />
reviews, resources and events<br />
www.geocities.com/~polfilms/<br />
The Political Film Society<br />
recognizes outstanding<br />
achievement in ra<strong>is</strong>ing political<br />
consciousness about democracy,<br />
exposé, human rights, and<br />
peace. Lots of reviews.<br />
www.spiritualityhealth.com<br />
Fred and Mary Brussat offer an<br />
e-course, “Going to the Movies<br />
as a Spiritual Practice” as well<br />
as current film and video<br />
reviews with searchable<br />
database<br />
www.FilmClipsOnLine.com<br />
“Is there a place for <strong>popular</strong><br />
culture in thoughtful and sacred<br />
spaces?” Hollywood filmmaker<br />
Michael Rhodes and industry<br />
colleagues and educators offer<br />
clips from <strong>popular</strong> films to use<br />
in educational settings.<br />
www.chr<strong>is</strong>tianitytoday.com/<br />
ctmag/features/columns/<br />
filmforum.html<br />
Chr<strong>is</strong>tian film reviews <strong>that</strong><br />
integrate and analyze<br />
commentaries from several<br />
sources, both religious and<br />
from the mainstream press<br />
www.unomaha.edu/~wwwjrf/<br />
Articles and reviews by the<br />
Journal of Religion and Film,<br />
University of Nebraska at<br />
Omaha<br />
www.chr<strong>is</strong>tiancritic.com<br />
The Chr<strong>is</strong>tian critic’s movie<br />
parables.<br />
www.textweek.com<br />
Sermon helps with a movie<br />
concordance for the Catholic<br />
and Anglican lectionaries<br />
www.udayton.edu/mary/<br />
Th<strong>is</strong> site features the videos on<br />
Mary and Marian subjects<br />
archived by the University of<br />
Dayton’s Marian Library/<br />
International Marian Research<br />
Institute.<br />
www.bravo.ca/<br />
scanningthemovies<br />
Canada’s BRAVO! Channel<br />
presents a media education<br />
perspective based on the<br />
telev<strong>is</strong>ion <strong>program</strong>, “Scanning<br />
the Movies”, hosted by Neil<br />
Anderson and Father John<br />
Pungente, S.J, with study<br />
guides.<br />
www.IMDb.org<br />
The Internet Movie Databases<br />
<strong>is</strong> the largest movie archive on<br />
the web and includes industry<br />
information and a multitude of<br />
links to sources and reviews.<br />
www.suntimes.com/index/<br />
ebert.html<br />
Movie critic Roger Ebert’s<br />
current film reviews since 1985.
�1969 (1988) (R)<br />
The death of a young man <strong>is</strong> the catalyst needed to<br />
bridge the gap between father and son and enlighten<br />
them both to the true cost of war.<br />
�1984 (1984) (R)<br />
George Orwell's novel of a totalitarian future society<br />
in which a man whose daily work <strong>is</strong> rewriting h<strong>is</strong>tory<br />
tries to rebel by falling in love. With Richard Burton<br />
�4 Little Girls (1997) (NR)<br />
Recounts the people and events leading up to the one<br />
of the most despicable hate-crimes during the height of<br />
the civil-rights movement, the bombing of the 16th<br />
Street Church in Birmingham, Alabama. Spike Lee.<br />
�Absolution (1978) (R)<br />
Richard Burton plays a priest in a Brit<strong>is</strong>h Catholic<br />
school who goes mad when he cannot report a murder<br />
he learned about in confession. Weird movie.<br />
�Alamo Bay (1985) (R)<br />
A despondent Vietnam veteran in danger of losing h<strong>is</strong><br />
livelihood <strong>is</strong> pushed to the edge when he sees<br />
Vietnamese immigrants moving into the f<strong>is</strong>hing<br />
industry in a Texas bay town. .<br />
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930, 1979)<br />
A young German soldier faces profound<br />
d<strong>is</strong>illusionment in the soul-destroying horror of World<br />
War I.<br />
� Amadeus (1984) (PG)<br />
The incredible story of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart,<br />
told in flashback mode by Antonio Salieri - now<br />
confined to an insane asylum.<br />
�☺Amazing Grace and Chuck (1987)<br />
After taking a tour of a nuclear silo, Chuck decides to<br />
quit playing little league until nuclear weapons are<br />
d<strong>is</strong>armed.<br />
� Amelie (2001) (R)<br />
A single waitress who decides to help other lonely<br />
people fix their lives.French, with subtitles.<br />
� American H<strong>is</strong>tory X (1998) (R)<br />
A former neo-nazi skinhead tries to prevent h<strong>is</strong><br />
younger brother from going down the same wrong<br />
path <strong>that</strong> he did.<br />
<strong>Popcorn</strong> <strong>Peacemaking</strong><br />
Films<br />
�In the Peace and Justice Library<br />
�Study Guide Available<br />
☺Especially suitable for young children<br />
� American Beauty (1999) (R)<br />
Chronicles the last year in the life of 42 year-old hack<br />
magazine writer , a suburban loser <strong>that</strong> has had it with<br />
h<strong>is</strong> humdrum life and decides to make a few changes<br />
to regain control.<br />
American Me (1992) (R)<br />
Gang Violence in Los Angeles.<br />
� Angel and the Badman (1947)<br />
A wounded gunslinger <strong>is</strong> nursed by a Quaker family<br />
When he falls in love with their daughter he has to<br />
decide whether to forsake h<strong>is</strong> violent life. John<br />
Wayne.<br />
� Am<strong>is</strong>tad (1997)<br />
Fact-based story of the 1839 revolt by Africans on the<br />
slave ship Am<strong>is</strong>tad and their subsequent trial when<br />
they are taken on American soil.<br />
� And Justice for All (1979) (R)<br />
A satirical drama <strong>that</strong> looks at our judicial system.<br />
� Animal Farm (1955 and 1999)<br />
George Orwell's classic satire on Stalin<strong>is</strong>m, with the<br />
animals taking over their farm by means of a<br />
revolutionary coup, but then d<strong>is</strong>covering <strong>that</strong><br />
although all animals are supposed to be equal, some<br />
are more equal than others. Animated, but not for<br />
young children.<br />
� The Apostle (1997)<br />
A womanizing Pentecostal min<strong>is</strong>ter who <strong>is</strong> forced to<br />
leave h<strong>is</strong> Texas home (and church) after committing a<br />
violent act. Fascinating study of a wayward man's<br />
journey to understand h<strong>is</strong> life, and the many people<br />
who help him find h<strong>is</strong> way.<br />
� Apt Pupil (1998) (R)<br />
A bright schoolboy d<strong>is</strong>covers a wanted Nazi war<br />
criminal <strong>is</strong> living in h<strong>is</strong> town and blackmails him into<br />
telling stories ("everything they're afraid to show us in<br />
school") of the horrors of the Holocaust.<br />
At Play in the Fields of the Lord (1991)<br />
M<strong>is</strong>sionaries travel to the Brazilian rain forest and<br />
make a mess of everything.<br />
� Au revoir les enfants (1987)<br />
A French boarding school run by priests seems to be a<br />
haven from World War II until a new student arrives.
Autobiography of M<strong>is</strong>s Jane Pittman (1974)<br />
Story of a black woman in the South who was born<br />
into slavery in the 1850s and lives to become a part of<br />
the civil rights movement in the 1960s.<br />
�☺ Babe (1995)<br />
Babe <strong>is</strong> a little pig who doesn't quite know h<strong>is</strong> place in<br />
the world and learns <strong>that</strong> a pig can be anything <strong>that</strong><br />
he wants to be.<br />
�☺ Babe: Pig in the City (1998)<br />
Sequel - Babe in the big city.<br />
Babette’s Feast (1987)<br />
Babette prepares the feast of a lifetime for the<br />
members of a tiny Dan<strong>is</strong>h Protestant church.<br />
� ☺The Basket (1999) (PG)<br />
A Pacific Northwest community ra<strong>is</strong>ing its wheat and<br />
children in the midst of a nation reeling from World<br />
War I<br />
� ☺Beauty and the Beast (1983) (NR)<br />
Beauty d<strong>is</strong>covers <strong>that</strong> ugliness can d<strong>is</strong>gu<strong>is</strong>e grerat<br />
goodness. Faerie Tale Theater.<br />
� Behind the Lines (1998) (R)<br />
Based on true events, a pioneering psychiatr<strong>is</strong>t works<br />
with shell-shocked WWI soldiers in a gentle, humane<br />
manner <strong>that</strong> contrasts sharply with the brutality of h<strong>is</strong><br />
colleagues.<br />
� Being Human (1994) (PG-13)<br />
Robin Williams stars in five stories, each one taking<br />
place during a different h<strong>is</strong>torical period. He's either<br />
losing or looking for h<strong>is</strong> family.<br />
� Beloved (1998)<br />
Life of Sethe, a former slave who has rebuilt what<br />
seems to be a peaceful, productive life in Ohio.<br />
� Billy Elliott (2000)<br />
A talented young boy becomes torn between h<strong>is</strong><br />
unexpected love of dance and the d<strong>is</strong>integration of<br />
h<strong>is</strong> family.<br />
� Bonhoeffer: Agent of Grace (2000)<br />
About the struggles and martyrdom of a Lutheran<br />
pastor during WWII.<br />
� Birth of a Nation (1915) (NR)<br />
The consequences of the War in the lives of two<br />
brothers are shown in connection to major h<strong>is</strong>torical<br />
events, like the development of the Civil War itself,<br />
Lincoln's assassination, and the birth of the Ku Klux<br />
Klan. A silent movie classic, crippled by rac<strong>is</strong>m of the<br />
time.<br />
� Born on the Fourth of July (1989)<br />
The biography of Ron Kovic. Paralyzed in the Vietnam<br />
war, he becomes an anti-war and pro-human rights<br />
political activ<strong>is</strong>t after feeling betrayed by the country<br />
he fought<br />
Bound for Glory (1975)<br />
Biography of legendary folk singer Woody Guthrie,<br />
the Depression-era vagabond whose working class<br />
music affected generations.<br />
Brazil (1985) (R)<br />
An unrelentingly imaginative and savage v<strong>is</strong>ion of<br />
20th-century bureaucracy.<br />
� Bright Shning Lie (1998) (R)<br />
Based on Neil Sheehan's controversial book about the<br />
making of the Vietnam war.<br />
� Brother Sun, S<strong>is</strong>ter Moon (1973)<br />
Story of St. Franc<strong>is</strong> of Ass<strong>is</strong>i.<br />
�☺A Bug’s Life (1998)<br />
A m<strong>is</strong>fit ant, looking for warriors to save h<strong>is</strong> colony<br />
from grasshoppers, recruits a group of bugs <strong>that</strong> turn<br />
out to be an inept circus troupe.<br />
� The Burning Season (1994) (R)<br />
Activ<strong>is</strong>t Chico Mendes <strong>is</strong> murdered while fighting to<br />
protect h<strong>is</strong> people in the Amazon rain forest.<br />
Chariots of Fire (1981)<br />
Two Brit<strong>is</strong>h track athletes, one a determined Jew, and<br />
the other a devout Chr<strong>is</strong>tian, compete in the 1924<br />
Olympics.<br />
�☺Charlotte’s Web (1973) (G)<br />
Th<strong>is</strong> animated feature based on the <strong>popular</strong> E.B. White<br />
book for children—about the special relationships<br />
between Wilbur the pig, Charlotte the spider, and<br />
Templeton the rat—<strong>is</strong> a straight adaptation from the<br />
page, with songs added.<br />
�☺Chicken Run (2000)<br />
Our plucky heroines face a lifetime of hard labor laying<br />
for the farmers, and if their performance <strong>is</strong> not up to<br />
par they quite literally face the chop. Ginger, making<br />
her way to the top of the pecking order attempts<br />
jailbreak after farcical jailbreak, but success <strong>is</strong> less<br />
than forthcoming.<br />
� Children of a Lesser God (1986) (R)<br />
A deaf and a hearing world trying to survive after they<br />
join in love.<br />
Children of Heaven (1997)<br />
Two poor Iranian children share a pair of shoes.<br />
� Chinatown (1974) (R)<br />
L. A private eye led into a complex, volatile case by<br />
femme fatale, but also has an interesting side plot<br />
about water rights.<br />
� Children of Rage(1977) (PG)<br />
A Palestinian family torn apart by the Middle East<br />
conflict<br />
� Chocolat (2001)<br />
1960, small town France. a woman and her daughter<br />
move into town and open a chocolate shop just as<br />
Lent <strong>is</strong> beginning.
� The Chr<strong>is</strong>tmas Coal Mine Miracle (1977) (NR)<br />
Tragedy strikes a small mining community one fateful<br />
Chr<strong>is</strong>tmas Eve in 1951 when a series of explosions<br />
strike a mine notorious for its unsafe conditions.<br />
� City of Joy (1992)<br />
An American surgeon loses a young patient, quits the<br />
medical profession and goes to India to find himself.<br />
� Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) (PG)<br />
A line worker, after a encounter with UFO's, feels<br />
undeniably drawn to an <strong>is</strong>olated area in the wilderness<br />
where something spectacular <strong>is</strong> about to happen.<br />
� The Color of Courage (1999)<br />
1940's Sipes v. McGhee trial - the case which considered<br />
the question of the legality of restrictive deed<br />
covenants which created segregated neighborhoods<br />
and kept blacks out of all white neighborhoods.<br />
The Color of Parad<strong>is</strong>e (1981)<br />
A father <strong>is</strong> estranged from h<strong>is</strong> son, a student at<br />
Tehran’s Institute for the Blind.<br />
� Commandments (1997) (R)<br />
Aidan Quinn plays a man so aggrieved by h<strong>is</strong> m<strong>is</strong>fortunes<br />
<strong>that</strong> he vows to break each of God's Ten<br />
Commandments in revenge. But even <strong>that</strong> act of<br />
profound defiance doesn't quite work out the way he<br />
planned, and the character undergoes a mythic--some<br />
would say biblical--experience of a different kind.<br />
� Crimes and M<strong>is</strong>demeanors(1989)<br />
A provocative and unsettling study of divergent<br />
moralities and the price we're willing to pay to preserve<br />
our personal comfort and happiness.<br />
� Cr<strong>is</strong><strong>is</strong> at Central High (1981)<br />
Events surrounding the 1957 integration of Central<br />
High School in Little Rock, Arkansas.<br />
� The Crucible (1996) (PG-13)<br />
An adaption of the famous play concerning the Salem<br />
witch trials.<br />
� �Cry Freedom (1987)<br />
A white newspaper editor befriends South African<br />
Black political activ<strong>is</strong>t Steve Biko.<br />
� Cry, the Beloved Country (1995)<br />
The lives of a black, country priest and a white<br />
wealthy landowner in South Africa in the 1940's.<br />
Themes of religion, politics, faith, healing, mercy and<br />
justice.<br />
� Dance With the White Dog (1993) (PG)<br />
When Sam Peek's beloved wife, Cora, dies, a white<br />
dog suddenly materializes as h<strong>is</strong> new companion and<br />
confidant. Sam takes the dog on a nostalgic journey<br />
which dramatizes the fulfillment he shared with h<strong>is</strong><br />
departed wife.<br />
� Dances with Wolves (1990)<br />
About an ideal<strong>is</strong>tic young Civil War soldier who<br />
makes friends with a Sioux Indian tribe and, becomes<br />
one of them.<br />
� Dead Poets Society (1989)<br />
Robin Williams <strong>is</strong> a char<strong>is</strong>matic Engl<strong>is</strong>h teacher at a<br />
staid New England prep school in 1959, whose<br />
infectious love of poetry--and ins<strong>is</strong>tence <strong>that</strong> each<br />
boy ``seize the day'' and make the most of lifeinspires<br />
h<strong>is</strong> impressionable students, not always in<br />
the right direction.<br />
� Dead Man Walking (R) (1995)<br />
Based on the book by Sr. Helen Prejean, examines the<br />
<strong>is</strong>sue of capital pun<strong>is</strong>hment from a humanitarian<br />
perspective, and urges thoughtful reflection on the<br />
justifications for legally ending a human life.<br />
� Death and the Maiden (R) (1994)<br />
A political activ<strong>is</strong>t <strong>is</strong> convinced <strong>that</strong> her guest <strong>is</strong> a<br />
man who once tortured her.<br />
Diary of Ann Frank (1959)<br />
Harrowing story of a young Jew<strong>is</strong>h girl who, with her<br />
family and their friends <strong>is</strong> forced into hiding in an attic<br />
in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam.<br />
�☺ Digging to China (1998)<br />
A small girl befriends a retarded man.<br />
� Divided We Fall (2000) (PG-13)<br />
Czech with Engl<strong>is</strong>h Subtitles. Captures the pervasive<br />
suspicion and betrayal of World War II through the<br />
unexpected gu<strong>is</strong>e of situation comedy.<br />
� Do the Right Thing (1989) (R)<br />
On a hot day on a New York City street, everyone’s<br />
hate and bigotry smoulders and builds until it explodes<br />
into violence.<br />
� Don Quixote (2000)<br />
The classic tale of a man's dream, h<strong>is</strong> epic journey, and<br />
one true love.<br />
� Down Came a Blackbird (1995)<br />
A journal<strong>is</strong>t struggling to regain control of her life a<br />
year after she was abducted and tortured in Central<br />
America. She goes to a clinic for survivors of torture,<br />
where she reflects on her experiences and learns about<br />
others who have suffered similar experiences.<br />
A Dry White Season (1989) (R)<br />
When h<strong>is</strong> gardener’s son <strong>is</strong> brutally beaten by the<br />
police at a demonstration by black school children, a<br />
schoolteacher in South Africa begins to realize h<strong>is</strong><br />
society <strong>is</strong> built on a pillar of injustice and exploitation.<br />
� Dr. Strangelove (1964)<br />
At the height of the cold war, a black comedy about<br />
the arms race and nuclear holocaust.
� Entertaining Angels - The Dorothy Day Story (1996)<br />
Dorothy Day's spiritual evolution from a journal<strong>is</strong>t<br />
and suffragette in Greenwich Village to her conversion<br />
to Roman Catholic<strong>is</strong>m and her devotion to helping the<br />
poor.<br />
��Erin Brockovich (2000) (R)<br />
An unemployed single mother becomes a legal<br />
ass<strong>is</strong>tant and almost single-handedly brings down a<br />
California power company accused of polluting a<br />
city's water supply.<br />
E.T. (1982)<br />
A group of Earth children help a stranded alien<br />
botan<strong>is</strong>t return home<br />
�Eva Peron (1996) (R)<br />
An Argentinian-made film of the life of Eva Peron.<br />
�Evita (1996) (R)<br />
A musical telling of the life of Argentian actress and<br />
kingmaker, Eva Peron. Starring Madonna.<br />
Fahrenheit 451 (1966)<br />
Based on the 1951 Ray Bradbury novel, a firefighter<br />
lives in a lonely, <strong>is</strong>olated society where books have<br />
been outlawed by a government fearing an<br />
independent-thinking public.<br />
�A Farewell to Arms (1932)<br />
Hemingway’s WWI love story also analyses Lt.<br />
Henry's feelings on war and the purpose of fighting.<br />
�Fat Man and Little Boy (1989) (PG-13)<br />
H<strong>is</strong>tory of the Manhattan Project, the atomic testing<br />
project <strong>that</strong> led to the U.S. bombing of Japan during<br />
World War II.<br />
�Field of Dreams (1989)<br />
An Iowa corn farmer, hearing voices, interprets them<br />
as a command to build a baseball diamond in h<strong>is</strong> fields;<br />
he does, and the Chicago Black Sox come.<br />
�Fire on the Amazon (1993) (R)<br />
Struggle among ranchers, rubber tappers and loggers<br />
for the fate of the Amazon.<br />
�The F<strong>is</strong>her King (1991) (R)<br />
A radio DJ, suicidally despondent because of a<br />
horrible m<strong>is</strong>take he made, finds redemption in helping<br />
a deranged homeless man who was a victim of it.<br />
�☺Fly Away Home (1996)<br />
A father and daughter decide to attempt to lead a<br />
flock of orphaned Canada Geese south by air.<br />
� Forrest Gump (1994)<br />
Unlikely story of a slow-witted but good-hearted man<br />
somehow at the center of the pivotal events of the<br />
20th century.<br />
�☺Freedom Song (2000)<br />
A fictionalized account of the civil rights movement.<br />
� �Gandhi (1982)<br />
Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor Oscars.<br />
Sweeping account of the life and times of Mohandas<br />
K. Gandhi.<br />
� Gentleman’s Agreement (1947)<br />
A reporter pretends to be Jew<strong>is</strong>h in order to cover a<br />
story on anti-Semit<strong>is</strong>m, and personally d<strong>is</strong>covers the<br />
true depths of bigotry and hatred.<br />
� Ghosts of M<strong>is</strong>s<strong>is</strong>sippi (1996) (PG-13)<br />
Alec Baldwin stars as a lawyer in th<strong>is</strong> true story of the<br />
re-trial of the murderer of civil rights leader Medgar<br />
Evers.<br />
� Girl, Interrupted (2000) (R)<br />
A young women <strong>is</strong> involuntarily committed to a<br />
mental institution in 1967 and deciudes <strong>that</strong> the<br />
inmates are saner than the war-torn world outside..<br />
� The Glass Menagerie (1987) (PG)<br />
A son longs to escape from h<strong>is</strong> stifling home, where<br />
h<strong>is</strong> genteel mother worries about the future prospects<br />
of h<strong>is</strong> lame, shy s<strong>is</strong>ter.<br />
The God’s Must be Crazy (1980)<br />
A bushman in the Kalahari encounters technology for<br />
the first time - in the shape of a Coke bottle.<br />
� ☺The Goodbye Bird (1993)<br />
Boy accused of stealing a parrot ends up starting an<br />
animal shelter.<br />
� Gorllas in the M<strong>is</strong>t (1988) (PG-13)<br />
The story of Dian Fossey, a scient<strong>is</strong>t who came to<br />
Africa to study the van<strong>is</strong>hing mountain gorillas, and<br />
later fought to protect them.<br />
� The Grapes of Wrath (1940) (NR)<br />
A poor mid-west family are forced off their land and travel<br />
to California, suffering the m<strong>is</strong>fortunes of the homeless in<br />
the Great Depression.<br />
� The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) (NR)<br />
The life of Jesus Chr<strong>is</strong>t<br />
� The Green Mile (1999)<br />
The story about the lives of guards on death row<br />
leading up to the execution of a wrongly accused man<br />
who has the power of faith healing.<br />
� Harlan County War (1982)<br />
A Kentucky woman whose mine-worker husband <strong>is</strong><br />
nearly killed in a cave-in, and whose father <strong>is</strong> slowly<br />
dying of black lung d<strong>is</strong>ease, joins the picket lines for<br />
a long, violent strike.<br />
�☺ Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001) (PG)<br />
Rescued from the outrageous neglect of h<strong>is</strong> aunt and<br />
uncle, a young boy with a great destiny proves h<strong>is</strong><br />
worth while attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft<br />
and Wizardry
�☺ Harvest of Fire (1982)<br />
A female FBI agent comes to a d<strong>is</strong>trustful Am<strong>is</strong>h<br />
community to investigate a multiple building arson<br />
incident.<br />
� Heat Wave (R) (1990)<br />
An African-American messenger working for the LA.<br />
Times plays a key role in winning the newspaper a<br />
Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the 1965 Watts riots.<br />
� The Hiding Place (1975)<br />
Corrie Ten Boom, a middle-aged Dutch watchmaker's<br />
daughter, became a heroine of the Res<strong>is</strong>tance and aids<br />
Jews in WWII.<br />
� The Horse Wh<strong>is</strong>perer (1998)<br />
The mother of a severely traumatized daughter enl<strong>is</strong>ts<br />
the aid of a unique horse trainer to help the girl's<br />
equally injured horse.<br />
� The Hurricane (1999)<br />
The story of Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, a boxer<br />
wrongly impr<strong>is</strong>oned for murder, and the people who<br />
aided in h<strong>is</strong> fight to prove h<strong>is</strong> innocence.<br />
� I Am Sam (2001) (PG-13)<br />
A mentally retarded man fights for custody of h<strong>is</strong> 7year-old<br />
daughter, and in the process teaches h<strong>is</strong><br />
cold-hearted lawyer the value of love and family.<br />
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1979)<br />
Based on writer Maya Angelou's childhood, th<strong>is</strong> story<br />
<strong>is</strong> about a young girl in the South who <strong>is</strong> sent to live<br />
with her grandmother after her parents divorce.<br />
� I Will Fight No More Forever (1975)<br />
A chronicle of the war between the United States<br />
Army and the Nez Perce, Chief Joseph.<br />
� In the Name of the Father (1993) (R)<br />
Man’s coerced confession to an IRA bombing he<br />
didn’t do impr<strong>is</strong>ons h<strong>is</strong> father as well; a Brit<strong>is</strong>h lawyer<br />
helps fight for their freedom.<br />
� In the Presence of Mine Enemies (1996)<br />
A Rabbi in the Warsaw Ghetto in Poland in 1942 fights<br />
to maintain h<strong>is</strong> stance of peace and acceptance of h<strong>is</strong><br />
fellow man despite the growing turmoil and atrocities<br />
created by the Naz<strong>is</strong>.<br />
� In Th<strong>is</strong> House of Brede (1975) (NR)<br />
A well-to-do London businesswoman (Diana Rigg)<br />
gives up her comfortable life to become a clo<strong>is</strong>tered<br />
Benedictine nun. Based on the Rumor Godden novel.<br />
�☺ Indian in the Cupboard (1995)<br />
A sensitive boy d<strong>is</strong>covers a way to bring plastic toys<br />
to life in a locked cupboard.<br />
� Inherit the Wind (1960, 1999)<br />
Based on a real-life case in 1925, two great lawyers<br />
argue the case for and against a science teacher<br />
accused of the crime of teaching evolution.<br />
�☺ The Iron Giant (1999)<br />
A boy makes friends with an innocent alien giant<br />
robot <strong>that</strong> a paranoid government agent wants to<br />
destroy.<br />
� It’s the Rage (1999)<br />
Handguns figure in the intertwining lives of nine<br />
people.<br />
�Jakob the Liar (1999)<br />
Without ever really owning a radio, Jakob begins to<br />
falsely create stories to please the ghetto. By doing<br />
th<strong>is</strong>, Jakob lifts the morale of the ghetto but also<br />
places the entire population in danger from the<br />
German army.<br />
Jesus of Montreal (1990)<br />
A group of actors put on an unorthodox Passion Play<br />
which incites the opposition of the Catholic Church<br />
while the actors' lives themselves begin to mirror the<br />
Passion itself.<br />
Jesus’ Son (1999)<br />
A young man turns from drug addiction and petty<br />
crime to a life redeemed by a d<strong>is</strong>covery of<br />
compassion.<br />
� Joan of Arc (1948, 1999)<br />
A young girl receives a v<strong>is</strong>ion <strong>that</strong> drives her to rid<br />
France of its oppressors.<br />
� John Q (2002) (PG-13)<br />
A down-on-h<strong>is</strong> luck father, whose insurance won't<br />
cover h<strong>is</strong> son's heart transplant, takes the hospital's<br />
emergency room hostage until the doctors agree to<br />
perform the operation.<br />
� Jonah, Who will be 25 in the Year 2000 (1976)<br />
Literate, engaging comedy about eight individuals<br />
affected by the political events of the late '60s in<br />
France.<br />
� �Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)<br />
American judges try Nazi war criminals.<br />
� To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)<br />
Powerfully resonant film in its advocacy of tolerance,<br />
justice, integrity, and loving, responsible parenthood.<br />
� Kundun (1997)<br />
True story of the 14th Dalai Lama and h<strong>is</strong> exile from<br />
Tibet. About how to be nonviolent when your culture<br />
celebrates violence.<br />
� The Killing Fields (1984) (R)<br />
New York Times journal<strong>is</strong>t convering the tragedy and<br />
madness of the civil war in Cambodia with a local<br />
representative.
� Lakota Woman: Siege at Wounded Knee (1994) (NR)<br />
The daughter of a desperately poor Indian family in<br />
South Dakota <strong>is</strong> swept up in the protests of the 1960s<br />
and becomes sensitized to the injustices <strong>that</strong> society<br />
inflicts on her people. Based on autobiography.<br />
The Last Temptation of Chr<strong>is</strong>t (1988) (R)<br />
At h<strong>is</strong> execution, Jesus <strong>is</strong> tempted by an alluring<br />
image of a peaceful and pleasant life with Mary<br />
Magdelene to try to get him to refuse the sacrifice he<br />
must make.<br />
� Lean on Me (1989)<br />
The story of “Crazy Joe” Clark, the real-life baseball<br />
bat, bullhorn toting high school principal from New<br />
Jersey who whips h<strong>is</strong> students into shape by bolstering<br />
and bullying them.<br />
� Le Chambon: La Colline Aux Mille Enfants (1997)<br />
Based on the true story of a French village, which<br />
under the guidance of its Protestant pastor saved<br />
more than 5,000 Jew<strong>is</strong>h children from the Naz<strong>is</strong>.<br />
� The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000) (PG-13)<br />
A down-and-out golfer attempts to recover h<strong>is</strong> game<br />
and h<strong>is</strong> life with help from a mystical caddy.<br />
� Life <strong>is</strong> Beuatiful (1998)<br />
A Jew in a concentration camp in Italy stages an<br />
elaborate ruse to shield h<strong>is</strong> young son from the<br />
horror.<br />
A Lesson Before Dying (1999)<br />
Young black man in 1948 executed for murder, based<br />
on award-winning novel.<br />
� Liam (2000) (R)<br />
A morality tale of xenophobia, religious prejudice,<br />
mob violence, poverty, and their effect on two<br />
children in Liverpool during the Depression.<br />
� Little Buddha (1993) (PG)<br />
A Tibetan monk hears <strong>that</strong> an American boy may be<br />
the reincarnation of an important lama, Siddhartha, the<br />
Indian prince who renounced worldly pleasures and<br />
religious extrem<strong>is</strong>m to find the Middle Way of<br />
Buddh<strong>is</strong>t truth.<br />
� Local Hero (1983)<br />
An American oil company sends a man to Scotland to<br />
buy up an entire village where they want to build a<br />
refinery.<br />
� The Long Walk Home (1991)<br />
A story set against the backdrop of the emerging civil<br />
rights movement and the Montgomery Bus Boycott of<br />
the 1950s South.<br />
� Losing Isaiah (1995) (R)<br />
Halle Berry <strong>is</strong> a crack user who abandons her baby<br />
then wants him back.<br />
� Magnolia (1999) (R)<br />
A mosaic of m<strong>is</strong>ery, with an array of charactersranging<br />
from a dying man and h<strong>is</strong> angelic male nurse<br />
to a precocious kid pressured to perform on a TV<br />
game show-who must deal with anger, guilt, <strong>is</strong>olation,<br />
the sins of the fathers, and ultimately, forgiveness, on<br />
an almost Biblical level.<br />
� Malcolm X (1992)<br />
Faithful and moving adaptation of the Autobiography<br />
of Malcolm X.<br />
� Mama Flora’s Family (1998)<br />
Based on a story by Alex Haley, traces the story of an<br />
African-American family from 1900 to the present.<br />
A Man for All Seasons (1966) (NR)<br />
Standoff between King Henry VIII and Sir Thomas<br />
More about morals vs. practicality.<br />
� Mandela and DeKlerk (1997) (PG-13)<br />
Mandela's 30-year odessey from opponent of<br />
apartheid to president of South Africa. Sidney Poitier<br />
as Mandela; Michael Caine as DeKlerk.<br />
� A Map of the World (1999)<br />
After an accident on her property involving a friend's<br />
child, the town turns against her and Alice finds<br />
herself fighting charges of child abuse.<br />
� Master Harold and the Boys (1985) (PG-13)<br />
Based on the play by Athol Fugard, set in 1950 South<br />
Africa a young man turns vicious towards two family<br />
servants.<br />
Matewan (1987)<br />
A labor union organizer comes to an embattled mining<br />
community brutally and violently dominated and<br />
harassed by the mining company.<br />
� The Matrix (1999)<br />
A computer hacker learns from mysterious rebels<br />
about the true nature of h<strong>is</strong> reality and h<strong>is</strong> role in the<br />
war against the controllers of it.<br />
� A Merry War (1997)<br />
aka “Keep the Aspid<strong>is</strong>tra Flying,” based on the essay<br />
by George Orwell. Comedy-satire about an advert<strong>is</strong>ing<br />
man who <strong>is</strong> captivated by the concept of offering h<strong>is</strong><br />
life to ``art. '<br />
The Message (1988)<br />
Also called “Mohammed, Messenger of God,” about<br />
the birth of Islam.<br />
� Michael Collins (1996) (R)<br />
Controversial biography of IRA leader Michael Collins<br />
� Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999) (R)<br />
A young girl receives a v<strong>is</strong>ion <strong>that</strong> drives her to rid<br />
France of its oppressors. Milla Jovovich as Joan,<br />
directed by Luc Besson
� Midnight Express (1978) (R)<br />
True story of a man who <strong>is</strong> caught smuggling drugs<br />
out of Turkey and thrown into a barbaric pr<strong>is</strong>on.<br />
� The Milagro Beanfield War (1988) (R)<br />
Rural New Mexico community organizes to fight a<br />
ruthless and corrupt developer.<br />
� The Miracle (1959) (NR)<br />
During the war of 1812, a young nun leaves the<br />
convent to search for a series of romantic adventures,<br />
and during her journey the statue of the virgin Mary<br />
descends from the pedestal and takes the young<br />
nun's place until her return.<br />
� The Miracle Worker (1962) (NR)<br />
The story of Anne Sullivan's struggle to teach the<br />
blind and deaf Helen Keller how to communicate.<br />
�☺ Miracle at Midnight (1998)<br />
A Dan<strong>is</strong>h family are front-runners in a clandestine<br />
operation to transport over 7,000 Jews to neutral<br />
Sweden, while averting Nazi arrest.<br />
� Les M<strong>is</strong>érables (1998)<br />
A thief, redeemed by the power of love and<br />
forgiveness, has h<strong>is</strong> past life exposed. With Liam<br />
Neeson.<br />
� The M<strong>is</strong>sion (1986)<br />
About two Jesuit m<strong>is</strong>sionaries in 18th Century Brazil,<br />
western imperial<strong>is</strong>m and conflicting styles in striving<br />
for noble goals.<br />
�� M<strong>is</strong>s<strong>is</strong>sippi Burning (R) (1988)<br />
Fictionalized account of a the murder of three young<br />
civil rights workers who were part of a 1964 voter<br />
reg<strong>is</strong>tration drive in M<strong>is</strong>s<strong>is</strong>sippi.<br />
� M<strong>is</strong>s Evers’ Boys (1997)<br />
Program designed to treat syphil<strong>is</strong> among blacks in<br />
the South was tw<strong>is</strong>ted into an inhuman study.<br />
� The Molly McGuires (1970)<br />
In 1876 in Pennsylvania, a secret group of Ir<strong>is</strong>h<br />
emigrant miners, fights against the cruelty of the<br />
mining company with sabotage and murder.<br />
� Moulin Rouge (2001) (PG-13)<br />
A poet falls for a beautiful courtesan whom a jealous<br />
duke covets<br />
� Mr. Holland’s Opus (1996)<br />
A musician grudgingly takes a job as a high school<br />
music teacher and <strong>is</strong> slow to recognize the impact he<br />
has on those around him.<br />
� Murder in the First (1995) (R)<br />
Inspired by a true story. A petty criminal sent to<br />
Alcatraz in the 1930s and put in solitary confinement.<br />
years, only to emerge a madman and soon to be a<br />
murderer. A rookie lawyer attempts to prove <strong>that</strong><br />
Alcatraz was to blame.<br />
� Music of the Heart (1999)<br />
Biopic about Roberta Guaspari, a divorced mother of<br />
two who created an acclaimed music <strong>program</strong> in East<br />
Harlem's troubled school system.<br />
� My Family (Mi Familia) (1995) (R)<br />
Account of one family's struggle to stay together<br />
and survive the mean streets of East Los Angeles.<br />
� My Own Country (1998) (R)<br />
An East Indian doctor settles in Johnson City,<br />
Tennessee. and takes AIDS as h<strong>is</strong> personal crusade..<br />
� My Son the Fanatic (1997) (R)<br />
A taxi driver can't understand why h<strong>is</strong> son has turned<br />
to Muslim fundamental<strong>is</strong>m, calling the Western world<br />
of their corner of London corrupt and driven by sex.<br />
Native Son (1986)<br />
A Black Chauffeur kills a white woman when he fears<br />
the consequences of being caught alone in a room<br />
with her.<br />
� Nazarin (1958)<br />
Nazarin <strong>is</strong> a priest, attempting to living a pure and<br />
honest life strictly according to Chr<strong>is</strong>tian principles -<br />
but others only show him d<strong>is</strong>trust. Directed by Lu<strong>is</strong><br />
Buñuel. Span<strong>is</strong>h with Engl<strong>is</strong>h subtitles.<br />
� Nixon (1995) (R)<br />
The story of Richard M. Nixon, former president of the<br />
United States whose presidency ended in d<strong>is</strong>grace.<br />
�☺ No More Baths (1998)<br />
Children use nonviolent protest to keep an old man<br />
from being evicted to make room for an upscale<br />
housing development.<br />
� Noriega: God’s Favorite (2000)<br />
Account of the streetw<strong>is</strong>e thug who brutalized h<strong>is</strong><br />
countrymen as the military ruler of Panama in the<br />
1980s.<br />
Norma Rae (1979)<br />
A young single mother agrees to help unionize her<br />
textile mill.<br />
� Nuremberg (2000)<br />
Trial of Nazi war criminals following the Allied victory<br />
in Europe in World War II.<br />
� O Brother, Where Art Thou? (1992)<br />
Nicks the plot line of Homer’s Odyssey for a comic<br />
picaresque saga about three cons on the run in 1930s<br />
M<strong>is</strong>s<strong>is</strong>sippi.<br />
� Of Mice and Men (1992)<br />
Two drifters, one a gentle but slow giant, try to make<br />
money working the fields during the Depression so<br />
they can fulfill their dreams.<br />
The Official Story (1985) (R)<br />
The coll<strong>is</strong>ion of middle-class aspirations and<br />
government lies in Argentina
� Once Upon a Time When We Were Colored (1996)<br />
A narrator tells the story of h<strong>is</strong> childhood years in a<br />
tightly knit Afro-American community in the deep<br />
south under racial segregation.<br />
� One Flew Over the Cukoo’s Nest (1975) (R)<br />
A man sent to a mental hospital finds the head nurse a<br />
lot more dangerous than the other patients.<br />
� One True Thing (1998)<br />
A career woman reassesses her parents' lives after she<br />
<strong>is</strong> forced to care for her cancer-stricken mother.<br />
� Ordinary People (1980) (R)<br />
Oscar Best Picture. Beth, Calvin, and their son Conrad<br />
are living in the aftermath of the death of the other<br />
son..<br />
The Ox Bow Incident (1943)<br />
Two drifters are passing through a Western town,<br />
when news comes in <strong>that</strong> a local farmer has been<br />
murdered and h<strong>is</strong> cattle stolen.<br />
�☺ Pay it Forward (2000)<br />
A young boy attempts to make the world a better<br />
place.<br />
� Philadelphia (1993)<br />
When a man with AIDS <strong>is</strong> fired by a conservative law<br />
firm because of h<strong>is</strong> condition, he hires a homophobic<br />
small time lawyer as the only willing advocate for a<br />
wrongful d<strong>is</strong>m<strong>is</strong>sal suit..<br />
� Pleasantville (1998)<br />
1990s kids transported back into the sanitized world<br />
of 1950s sitcoms<br />
� The Power of One (1992)<br />
A man ra<strong>is</strong>ed in an African orphanage <strong>uses</strong> boxing to<br />
bring education and fight apartheid in South Africa.<br />
� The Quiet Room (1997)<br />
Alittle girl becomes so tired and freaked out by her<br />
parents fighting <strong>that</strong> she decides not to speak.<br />
A Ra<strong>is</strong>in in the Sun (1961)<br />
An African American family in Chicagostruggles with<br />
mixed aspirations, not enough money, conflicts over<br />
religion, and institutional rac<strong>is</strong>m.<br />
�☺ A Rat’s Tale (1998) (G)<br />
When two young rats from different socio-economic<br />
levels meet, their true love must endure adventures,<br />
family d<strong>is</strong>putes and the d<strong>is</strong>covery of their own<br />
strengths before their life together can begin.<br />
� Reds (1981) (PG)<br />
The story of John Reed andf Lou<strong>is</strong>e Bryant. See book,<br />
"The Education of John Reed.".<br />
�☺ Remember the Titans (2000)<br />
The true story of an newly appointed African-<br />
American coach and h<strong>is</strong> high school team on their first<br />
season as a racially integrated unit.<br />
� Roger and Me (1989) (R)<br />
When a General Motors plant closes in Flint, MI,<br />
Michael Moore tries to track down GM chariman<br />
Roger B. Smith for an interview.<br />
�Romeo and Juliet (1999)<br />
Shakespeare's tragic tale about two young lovers and<br />
their warring families<br />
��Romero (1989)<br />
Vivid biography of Archb<strong>is</strong>hop Oscar Romero of El<br />
Salvador, who stood up for social justice and<br />
nonviolence.<br />
�Rosewood (1997) (R)<br />
Fact-based story of two neighboring Florida towns,<br />
circa 1922-23, and the festering rac<strong>is</strong>m <strong>that</strong> threatens<br />
to explode into violence and destroy a law-abiding<br />
Black community.<br />
☺Ruby Bridges (1998)<br />
D<strong>is</strong>ney movie about desegregation in the 1960s<br />
� Sadat (1989)<br />
A real-life, flawed, human who overcame a whole<br />
world of prejudice, somehow, in order to help change<br />
our world.<br />
� Salt of the Earth (1954) (NR)<br />
Based on an actual strike against the Empire Zinc<br />
Mine in New Mexico, the film deals with the prejudice<br />
against the Mexican-American workers, who struck<br />
to attain wage parity with Anglo workers in other<br />
mines and to be treated with dignity by the bosses.<br />
Salvador (1986) (R)<br />
True-life account of the violent civil war in El<br />
Salvador.<br />
� Sarafina! (1992)<br />
A bright young student who <strong>is</strong> inspired by her teacher<br />
(Whoopi Goldberg) to dream of a better tomorrow in<br />
South Africa.<br />
�☺ Sarah Plain and Tall (1991) (G)<br />
A bright young student who <strong>is</strong> inspired by her teacher<br />
(Whoopi Goldberg) to dream of a better tomorrow in<br />
South Africa.<br />
Savior (1998) (R)<br />
Based on true accounts of the early '90s ethnic<br />
clashes between Serbia and neighboring states.<br />
� Schindler’s L<strong>is</strong>t (R) (1993)<br />
Steven Spielberg’s masterpiece about Catholic war<br />
profiteer Oskar Schindler ,who r<strong>is</strong>ked h<strong>is</strong> life and<br />
went bankrupt to save more than 1,000 Jews from<br />
certain death in concentration camps.<br />
For more information: <strong>peaceCENTER</strong>, 1443 S. St. Mary’s, San Antonio, TX 78210<br />
(210) 224-HOPE www.salsa.net/peace/popcorn
�☺ Secret of NIMH (1982) (G)<br />
To save her invalid son, a field mouse must seek the<br />
aid of a colony of super-intelligent rats.<br />
� Separate But Equal (1991)<br />
About Thurgood Marshall's arguing the h<strong>is</strong>toric<br />
Brown vs. Board of Education case in 1954.<br />
�Serving in Silence (1995)<br />
The true story of a decorated officer's legal challenge<br />
to her involuntary d<strong>is</strong>charge when she admitted she<br />
was homosexual.<br />
�Seven Years in Tibet (1995)<br />
An Australian mountaineer/adventurer <strong>is</strong> self<strong>is</strong>h and<br />
arrogant--until he learns humility in Tibet.<br />
� Shadowlands (1993)<br />
Brit<strong>is</strong>h writer C. S. Lew<strong>is</strong> comfortable if rigid life as an<br />
Oxford don in the 1950s <strong>is</strong> shaken by h<strong>is</strong> meeting with<br />
a forthright American poet, Joy Gresham.<br />
� Shadrach (1998)<br />
In 1935, 99-year-old former slave Shadrach asks to be<br />
buried on the soil where he was born to slavery.<br />
� The Shawshank Redemption (1994)<br />
Straight-arrow banker Robbins <strong>is</strong> railroaded for a<br />
double murder and sent to pr<strong>is</strong>on for life in the late<br />
1940s.<br />
� ☺ Shrek (2001) (PG)<br />
A reclusive ogre and a chatterbox donkey go on a<br />
quest to rescue a princess for a tyrannical midget lord.<br />
� Silkwood (1983) (R)<br />
The story of Karen Silkwood, a nuclear reactor worker<br />
who might have been murdered to prevent her expose<br />
of wrongdoing at the power plant.<br />
� ☺ The Simpson’s Chr<strong>is</strong>tmas Special (1989) (NR)<br />
The Simpsons d<strong>is</strong>cover the true meaning of<br />
Chr<strong>is</strong>tmas..<br />
� Skokie (1981)<br />
How a town became embroiled in a bitter controversy<br />
while trying to prevent street demonstrations by neo-<br />
Naz<strong>is</strong> in 1977.<br />
� Sophie’s Choice (1982) (R)<br />
A Pol<strong>is</strong>h woman's attempt to justify her ex<strong>is</strong>tence in<br />
America after surviving a living hell during WWII.<br />
� Smoke Signals (1988) (PG-13)<br />
A Pol<strong>is</strong>h woman's attempt to justify her ex<strong>is</strong>tence in<br />
America after surviving a living hell during WWII<br />
� A Soldier’s Story (1984) (PG)<br />
Brilliantly intense adaptation of the Charles Fuller<br />
play about internal conflicts among black soliders. in<br />
WWII Lou<strong>is</strong>ana.<br />
�☺Sounder (1972)<br />
A family of Black sharecroppers in Lou<strong>is</strong>iana in 1933,<br />
face a serious family cr<strong>is</strong><strong>is</strong> when the husband and<br />
father <strong>is</strong> convicted of a petty crime and sent to a<br />
pr<strong>is</strong>on camp.<br />
�Spitfire Grill (1972)<br />
Upon being released from pr<strong>is</strong>on, a young woman<br />
goes to the small town of Gillead, to find a place where<br />
she can start over again.<br />
�Stigmata (1999) (R)<br />
A vatican priest <strong>is</strong> assigned to investigate a young<br />
American who appears to be afflicted with stigmata.<br />
� Strawberry Fields (1997)<br />
A young woman traces her family’s h<strong>is</strong>tory in Japanese<br />
internment camps during WWII.<br />
� The Straight Story (1993) (G)<br />
73-year-old man takes a six week trip to mend h<strong>is</strong><br />
relationship with h<strong>is</strong> older brother, who <strong>is</strong> ill.<br />
� Stranger in the Kingdom (1998) (R)<br />
A Vermont town in the 1950’s hires a new min<strong>is</strong>ter<br />
based on h<strong>is</strong> war record and capable presentation, but<br />
then are shocked when he shows up and <strong>is</strong> a black<br />
man.<br />
�☺ Stuart Little(1999) (PG)<br />
The adventures of a heroic and debonair stalwart<br />
mouse named Stuart Little with human qualities, who<br />
faces some comic m<strong>is</strong>adventures while searching for<br />
h<strong>is</strong> lost bird friend and living with a human family as<br />
their child.<br />
�Such a Long Journey (1998) (NR)<br />
The story revolves around a Parsi family in Bombay<br />
around the time of the India-Pak<strong>is</strong>tan war <strong>that</strong> resulted<br />
in the creation of Bangladesh.<br />
�Sudie and Simpson (1990) (NR)<br />
A white girl befriends a reclusive black man in 1940s<br />
Georgia.<br />
� Tea With Mussolini (1999)<br />
A story of civilized d<strong>is</strong>obedience; a group of<br />
expatriate women in WWII Italy think they are under<br />
the protection of Il Duce.<br />
� Testament (1983)<br />
Story of one family's attempt to survive in the<br />
aftermath of a nuclear war.<br />
For more information: <strong>peaceCENTER</strong>, 1443 S. St. Mary’s, San Antonio, TX 78210<br />
(210) 224-HOPE www.salsa.net/peace/popcorn
� Twentyfour Seven (1997)<br />
An ideal<strong>is</strong>tic 1980s burnout tries to encourage the<br />
aimless, angry young men in h<strong>is</strong> working-class<br />
Engl<strong>is</strong>h town by setting up a boxing club.<br />
� Ulee’s Gold (1997) (R)<br />
A reclusive beekeeper slowly pulls h<strong>is</strong> dysfunctional<br />
family back together..<br />
� Wag the Dog (1997)<br />
Before elections, a spin-doctor and a Hollywood<br />
producer join efforts to fabricate a war in order to<br />
cover-up a presidential sex scandal.<br />
�☺ The War (1994) (PG-13)<br />
A Vietnam veteran in 1970s M<strong>is</strong>s<strong>is</strong>sippi attempts to<br />
teach h<strong>is</strong> kids tolerance and peaceful ways when<br />
they're being bullied.<br />
� The War at Home (1996) (R)<br />
TV movie about a middle-class family's helplessness<br />
in the wake of a son's agony on h<strong>is</strong> return from<br />
Vietnam<br />
� The Whales of August (1987) (NR)<br />
Two elderly s<strong>is</strong>ters (Bette Dav<strong>is</strong> and Lillian G<strong>is</strong>h) have<br />
to decide whether to give up their family home in<br />
Main, their independence and life together.<br />
� What the Deaf Man Heard (1997)<br />
A traumatized boy ref<strong>uses</strong> to speak and <strong>is</strong> thought to<br />
be deaf until 26 years later he speaks out against<br />
embezzlement of church funds.<br />
� White Man’s Burden (1995) (R)<br />
Imagines an America where black people are the ruling<br />
class and whites are underprivileged minorities.<br />
� The White Rose (1982)<br />
Student res<strong>is</strong>tance in Nazi Germany.<br />
�☺ Whitewash (1995)<br />
Animated film explores intolerance.<br />
� The Winslow Boy (1948)<br />
In pre-WW1 England, a youngster <strong>is</strong> expelled from a<br />
naval academy over a petty theft, but h<strong>is</strong> parents ra<strong>is</strong>e<br />
a political furor by demanding a trial.<br />
� Wit (2001)<br />
Eloquent and deeply moving struggle for dignity,<br />
meaning, and peace at life's ultimate crossroads.<br />
during the painful death of a college Engl<strong>is</strong>h<br />
professor.<br />
� Went to Coney Island on a M<strong>is</strong>sion from God . . be<br />
Back by Five (1998)<br />
Two 30-something friends go to Coney Island to look<br />
for a childhood buddy who <strong>is</strong> reported to be mentally<br />
ill and living under the boardwalk.<br />
� Winstanley (1974)<br />
About Gerrard Winstanley and the counter-culture<br />
Diggers in the mid 1600s.<br />
� Witness (1985)<br />
A young Am<strong>is</strong>h boy <strong>is</strong> sole witness to a murder;<br />
policeman goes into hiding in Am<strong>is</strong>h country to<br />
protect him until the trial.<br />
�☺ The Wizard of Oz (1939)<br />
Dorothy Gale <strong>is</strong> swept away to a magical land in a<br />
tornado and embarks on a quest to see the Wizard<br />
who can help her return home.<br />
� World Apart (1989) (PG)<br />
Th<strong>is</strong> true story reveals the world of apartheid South<br />
Africa through the eyes of the daughter of prominent<br />
anti-apartheid activ<strong>is</strong>ts.<br />
For more information: <strong>peaceCENTER</strong>, 1443 S. St. Mary’s, San Antonio, TX 78210<br />
(210) 224-HOPE www.salsa.net/peace/popcorn
M<strong>is</strong>s<strong>is</strong>sippi Burning (1988)<br />
Runtime: 128 minutes<br />
Rating R<br />
H<strong>is</strong>torical Background:<br />
Civil Rights workers Michael Schwerner and Andrew<br />
Goodman, both white New Yorkers, went to Philadelphia,<br />
M<strong>is</strong>s<strong>is</strong>sippi in 1964 as volunteers with CORE, the<br />
Congress on Racial Equality, to aid in the reg<strong>is</strong>tration of<br />
African-American voters as part of the M<strong>is</strong>s<strong>is</strong>sippi<br />
“Freedom Summer” Project. They and fellow volunteer<br />
James Chaney, an African American from M<strong>is</strong>s<strong>is</strong>sippi,<br />
d<strong>is</strong>appeared on the evening of June 21. The FBI recovered<br />
their bodies, which had been buried in an earthen dam, 44<br />
days later. The case was solved by paying a $30,000 bribe<br />
to a Klan informant. The Neshoba County deputy sheriff<br />
and 16 others, all Ku Klux Klan members, were indicted<br />
for the crime; seven were convicted. Th<strong>is</strong> was a crucial<br />
turning point in the civil rights struggle which led up to<br />
the Voting Rights Act of 1965.<br />
About the rating:<br />
The R rating <strong>is</strong> for rac<strong>is</strong>t and crude language and for<br />
violence (shootings, beatings, lynching, burning, torture.)<br />
Why th<strong>is</strong> film was selected:<br />
It <strong>is</strong> hard for people who did not live through the 1960s to<br />
believe <strong>that</strong> such hatred, violence and rac<strong>is</strong>m ex<strong>is</strong>ted in<br />
th<strong>is</strong> country less than 40 years ago. Some critics have<br />
complained <strong>that</strong> the film depicts the action as being led by<br />
crusading white law-enforcement personnel on behalf of a<br />
herd of meek, passive, helpless blacks, and it has also been<br />
criticized for glorifying violent FBI tactics at the expense<br />
of the nonviolence advocated by Dr. King. Despite its<br />
flaws, M<strong>is</strong>s<strong>is</strong>sippi Burning starkly brings home the horror<br />
of the South in 1964.<br />
Recommended excerpts for showing:<br />
1. Bombing of black churches.<br />
(minute 35:00 to 44:00 -- 9 minutes)<br />
(Begin with the FBI agents wading across the swamp)<br />
After finding the abandoned car of the three m<strong>is</strong>sing civil<br />
rights workers, the FBI calls in reinforcements to search<br />
the swamps for their bodies. In retaliation, the Ku Klux<br />
Klan burns several black churches. A young boy speaks at<br />
a meeting at a firebombed church and explains <strong>that</strong> they<br />
are crusading for respect and dignity. Several white<br />
citizens, including the Sheriff, maintain <strong>that</strong> it <strong>is</strong> all a hoax.<br />
The film:<br />
Set in the same year <strong>that</strong> Martin Luther King received h<strong>is</strong><br />
Nobel Peace Prize, the film <strong>is</strong> a fictionalized account of a<br />
true story, the murder of black activ<strong>is</strong>t James Chaney and<br />
white colleagues Andrew Goodman and Mickey Schwerner,<br />
three young civil rights workers who were part of a voter<br />
reg<strong>is</strong>tration drive in M<strong>is</strong>s<strong>is</strong>sippi.<br />
�2. KKK invades black church, media<br />
interviews. (minute 53:30 to 60:00 - 6.5 minutes)<br />
(Begin with the church service) A black church service <strong>is</strong> in<br />
progress; the KKK interrupts it and beats up several of the<br />
worshippers, including a young boy identified as a troublemaker.<br />
Followed by interviews with the media where most<br />
white citizens express feelings <strong>that</strong> blacks are subhuman.<br />
3. House burning, trial:<br />
(minute 117:05 to 123:00 - 6 minutes)<br />
(Begin with the boy in the chicken coop) The KKK burns a<br />
house and a young boy, tending h<strong>is</strong> chickens, <strong>is</strong> a witness.<br />
A friend convinces him to help the FBI. He identifies the<br />
perpetrators, who go to trial and are let off with a suspended<br />
sentence by a sympathetic judge.<br />
Suggested d<strong>is</strong>cussion questions:<br />
1. Guided by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and other<br />
practitioners of nonviolence, the African-American people<br />
in the South did not meet violence with more violence.<br />
What <strong>is</strong> the difference between being nonviolent and being<br />
meek and passive? What do you think might have happened<br />
if the black people in M<strong>is</strong>s<strong>is</strong>sippi had started burning down<br />
white churches, or lynching white people?<br />
2. People died and suffered countless hardships and<br />
indignities to gain African-Americans in the South the right<br />
to vote. Yet in the 1998 elections, less than 30% of the<br />
eligible voters in M<strong>is</strong>s<strong>is</strong>sippi cast their ballots (compared to<br />
just under 40% nationwide and only 27% in Texas.) Was <strong>is</strong><br />
worth it? Why are civil rights, including voting, important?<br />
3. What things have changed for the better in civil rights<br />
since 1964? What things have stayed the same? Have some<br />
things become worse?<br />
4. Have you ever spoke out for something you believed in,<br />
even when other people got angry with you? What did it<br />
feel like? Looking back on your own experience, would<br />
you have done anything differently?<br />
For more information: <strong>peaceCENTER</strong>, 1443 S. St. Mary’s, San Antonio, TX 78210<br />
(210) 224-HOPE www.salsa.net/peace/popcorn
Gandhi (1982)<br />
Runtime: 188 minutes<br />
Rating PG<br />
H<strong>is</strong>torical Background:<br />
True story based on the life of Mohandas Gandhi. The<br />
form of nonviolence practiced by Gandhi <strong>is</strong> called<br />
Satyagraha, a combination of satya (truth-love) and agraha<br />
(firmness/force). It <strong>is</strong> the “the vindication of truth not by<br />
infliction of suffering on the opponent but on one’s self .”<br />
Satyagraha <strong>is</strong> peaceful. Opponents must be converted by a<br />
demonstration of purity, humility, and honesty. They are<br />
to be converted — not annihilated. Violence, Gandhi said,<br />
creates bitterness in the victim, and brutality in the<br />
attacker. Satyagraha assumes there <strong>is</strong> a constant dialogue<br />
between the opponents with a view to ultimate reconciliation.<br />
Insults, threats, and propaganda only serve to<br />
obstruct the goal.<br />
About the rating:<br />
Although rated PG, some of the ep<strong>is</strong>odes where the<br />
Indians clash with the Brit<strong>is</strong>h may be d<strong>is</strong>turbing.<br />
Why th<strong>is</strong> film was selected:<br />
Gandhi <strong>is</strong> a masterpiece, a loving tribute to a saintly man.<br />
It has been criticized for th<strong>is</strong> very reason - making a saint<br />
of Gandhi. Critics also have complained <strong>that</strong> it elevates h<strong>is</strong><br />
role in Indian independence at the expense of others,<br />
particularly Jinnah, the founder of Pak<strong>is</strong>tan.<br />
Recommended excerpt for showing:<br />
Gandhi <strong>is</strong> the best movie available to learn and teach<br />
nonviolence. Despite its three-hour length, it <strong>is</strong> well worth<br />
trying to show the entire film. If time <strong>is</strong> short, the following<br />
excerpt <strong>is</strong> recommended:<br />
� Salt March.<br />
(tape 2, minute 10:30 - 25:20 - 15 minutes)<br />
(Begin with the Brit<strong>is</strong>h uttering the word Salt) The Brit<strong>is</strong>h<br />
learn <strong>that</strong> Gandhi plans to march to the sea and make salt,<br />
in defiance of Brit<strong>is</strong>h law, which controls and taxes salt<br />
production. They decide to ignore him. In talking to a<br />
journal<strong>is</strong>t, Gandhi explains <strong>that</strong> the purpose of civil<br />
d<strong>is</strong>obedience <strong>is</strong> to provoke a reaction and they will<br />
provoke until the Brit<strong>is</strong>h react. Hundreds of thousands of<br />
Indians begin making and selling their own salt in open<br />
defiance. The Brit<strong>is</strong>h arrest thousands of Indians. Gandhi<br />
The film:<br />
Biography of Mohandas Gandhi, who developed and<br />
introduced the doctrine of nonviolent res<strong>is</strong>tance to the<br />
colonized people of India and who ultimately gained the<br />
nation its independence. Directed by Richard Attenborough<br />
and starring Ben Kingsley as Gandhi. Eight Oscars.<br />
declares h<strong>is</strong> intention to lead a peaceful takeover of a salt<br />
works and <strong>is</strong> arrested on the eve of the action. The Brit<strong>is</strong>h<br />
brutally club the Indians as they nonviolently and relentlessly<br />
attempt to enter the salt works. A journal<strong>is</strong>t reports<br />
<strong>that</strong> the naked brutality d<strong>is</strong>played by the Brit<strong>is</strong>h guaranteed<br />
Indian victory.<br />
D<strong>is</strong>cussion Questions<br />
1. Would nonviolence as practiced by Gandhi have any<br />
affect upon a dictator like Hitler, Saddam Hussein or<br />
Slobadan Milosivic? Why or why not?<br />
2. Satyagraha maintains <strong>that</strong> opponents must be converted<br />
by demonstrations of purity, honesty and humility. Can you<br />
think of ways <strong>that</strong> th<strong>is</strong> could be used in your own life to<br />
diffuse potentially violent situations?<br />
3. Gandhi called h<strong>is</strong> autobiography “The Story of My<br />
Experiments with Truth.” What do you think he meant by<br />
th<strong>is</strong>?<br />
4. What role did the media play in Gandhi’s version of<br />
nonviolence? Would h<strong>is</strong> actions had the same effect 50<br />
years before, when there were no newsreels or radio<br />
broadcasts?<br />
5. During the salt march the Indians broke the Brit<strong>is</strong>h law<br />
against making salt. What <strong>is</strong> the difference between civil<br />
d<strong>is</strong>obedience and ordinary law breaking?<br />
6. Gandhi lived a live of great simplicity, dressing in a<br />
loincloth, eating little, living communally and sharing the<br />
common chores (such as toilet cleaning.) Why do you think<br />
he lived th<strong>is</strong> way? Are nonviolence and simple living in<br />
some way linked?<br />
For more information: <strong>peaceCENTER</strong>, 1443 S. St. Mary’s, San Antonio, TX 78210<br />
(210) 224-HOPE www.salsa.net/peace/popcorn
Cry Freedom (1987)<br />
Runtime: 157 minutes<br />
Rating PG<br />
H<strong>is</strong>torical Background:<br />
In 1948 the white government of South Africa instituted<br />
Apartheid, laws to separate the races and maintain white<br />
supremacy. Black South Africans lost their citizenship,<br />
were assigned to remote “homelands” and had to carry<br />
demeaning passes. Steve Bantu Biko (1946-1976) founded<br />
the Black Consciousness Movement, based on h<strong>is</strong> philosophy<br />
<strong>that</strong> political freedom could only be achieved if blacks<br />
stopped feeling inferior to whites. BCM came into its own<br />
in the mid 1970s, when many African National Congress<br />
(ANC) leaders, including Nelson Mandela, were in jail or<br />
exile. The government “banned” Biko in 1973, restricting<br />
h<strong>is</strong> movements and preventing him from being quoted in<br />
public. In August, 1977 he was taken into police custody<br />
and died several days later. The South African government<br />
tried to cover it up. South Africa's first democratic election,<br />
held in 1994, resulted in a Government of National Unity<br />
(GNU) led by ANC leader Nelson Mandela. The five<br />
policemen involved in Biko’s death have sought amnesty<br />
from the Truth and Reconciliation Comm<strong>is</strong>sion, establ<strong>is</strong>hed<br />
to “enable South Africans to come to terms with their past<br />
on a morally accepted bas<strong>is</strong> and to advance the cause of<br />
reconciliation."<br />
About the rating:<br />
Rated PG, there <strong>is</strong> some vulgar language. At the end of the<br />
film white police brutally fire into a peaceable demonstration<br />
of school children.<br />
Why th<strong>is</strong> film was selected:<br />
Cry Freedom has been criticized for telling the story of<br />
Black struggle against apartheid through the eyes of a<br />
white liberal editor. However, the scenes of life in South<br />
Africa under apartheid excellent. Black South Africans also<br />
felt slighted <strong>that</strong> an American actor was chosen to play the<br />
role of Biko.<br />
Recommended excerpts for showing:<br />
1. First half of the film.<br />
(minute 00:00 to 1:22:40 -- 1 hour 22 min.)<br />
(End at conclusion of Biko’s funeral) Show th<strong>is</strong> much, if<br />
there <strong>is</strong> time; feel free to skip over the second half of the<br />
film, of the white editor’s escape.<br />
The film:<br />
A white newspaper editor (Kevin Kline) befriends South<br />
African Black political activ<strong>is</strong>t Steve Biko (Denzel Washington.)<br />
When Biko <strong>is</strong> beaten to death by the police, the editor<br />
writes a book exposing the government and has to escape<br />
the country with h<strong>is</strong> family to get it publ<strong>is</strong>hed. Directed by<br />
David Attenborough.<br />
.�2. Tour of the Black Townships.<br />
(minute 21:50 - 30:15 - 8.5 minutes)<br />
(Begin with Biko getting prepared for the tour) Biko and<br />
some friends take the liberal editor on a tour of the Black<br />
townships, showing the effects of apartheid and d<strong>is</strong>cussing<br />
their approach to ending it.<br />
3. Court Scene.<br />
(minute 38:25 - 42:45 - 4.5 minutes)<br />
(Begin with Biko in the dock) While testifying at a trial of a<br />
friend, Biko explains h<strong>is</strong> philosophy to the judge and jury.<br />
4. Biko’s Funeral.<br />
(minute 1:16:40 - 1:22:40 - 6 minutes)<br />
(Begin with people assembling for funeral)<br />
Suggested d<strong>is</strong>cussion questions:<br />
1. During the tour of the townships, Biko and h<strong>is</strong> friends<br />
describe the current society as one where they are only<br />
“invited to the table” if they learn how to “play by the white<br />
master’s rules.” They env<strong>is</strong>ion a society where everyone<br />
participates equally in society on their own cultural terms.<br />
What would it look like if everyone had their own place at<br />
the table in th<strong>is</strong> country, or in your school, workplace or<br />
place of worship?<br />
2. Biko has been called “the greatest martyr to apartheid.”<br />
What <strong>is</strong> a martyr? What other martyrs have you heard of?<br />
What role do they play in peace and justice?<br />
3. The South African government “banned” Steve Biko,<br />
and did not let him speak or be quoted in public. In the<br />
U.S., where the constitution guarantees free speech, we<br />
have generally taken the view <strong>that</strong> public debate lets the<br />
truth emerge in a free interchange of ideas. Do you think<br />
people should be permitted to speak out against their<br />
government?<br />
4. The Truth and Reconciliation Comm<strong>is</strong>sion in currentday<br />
South Africa has identified the policemen who murdered<br />
Steve Biko. If you were Mrs. Biko, could you<br />
forgive them? What does it mean to forgive and to reconcile<br />
yourself to past ab<strong>uses</strong> so <strong>that</strong> people can live together<br />
in harmony?<br />
For more information: <strong>peaceCENTER</strong>, 1443 S. St. Mary’s, San Antonio, TX 78210<br />
(210) 224-HOPE www.salsa.net/peace/popcorn
Judgment at Nuremberg<br />
(1961)<br />
Runtime: 186 minutes<br />
Rating NR<br />
H<strong>is</strong>torical Background:<br />
The Nuremberg Tribunals prosecuted three types of<br />
offenses: crimes against peace (waging aggressive war);<br />
war crimes (violations of the laws of war ) and crimes<br />
against humanity (including genocide and operating slave<br />
labor camps). The former Naz<strong>is</strong> claimed <strong>that</strong> they were<br />
acting under orders and, since they had violated no written<br />
laws, they could not be pun<strong>is</strong>hed. The Nuremberg judges<br />
rejected th<strong>is</strong> on the bas<strong>is</strong> <strong>that</strong> the actions of the defendants<br />
were so atrocious <strong>that</strong> it was obvious <strong>that</strong> they were<br />
criminal. Those prosecuted in the Nuremberg trials<br />
included doctors who had experimented on inmates and<br />
pr<strong>is</strong>oners of war, judges who condemned innocent people<br />
to death or impr<strong>is</strong>onment, industrial<strong>is</strong>ts who profited from<br />
slave labor, and concentration camp admin<strong>is</strong>trators.<br />
About the rating:<br />
Not rated. There <strong>is</strong> some horrifying h<strong>is</strong>torical footage from<br />
the concentration camps on the second tape.<br />
Why th<strong>is</strong> film was selected:<br />
Most of th<strong>is</strong> film <strong>is</strong> talk, rather than action and some may<br />
find it boring but it <strong>is</strong> a brilliant d<strong>is</strong>cussion of personal<br />
responsibility. Made in 1961 when WWII was still a fresh<br />
memory, some of the subtle h<strong>is</strong>torical allusions may need<br />
explaining to a younger audience.<br />
Recommended excerpts for showing:<br />
.�1. Concentration Camp footage.<br />
(2nd tape, minute 11:07 to 21:06 -- 10 min.)<br />
(Start with “Your honor, I offer...) Prosecutor Col.<br />
Lawson puts the judges’ actions into perspective then<br />
shows footage of the concentration camps.<br />
2. Herr Janning’s defense.<br />
(2nd tape, minute 45:10 - 53:40 - 8.5 min.)<br />
(Begin with ”Herr Janning, you may proceed”) Herr<br />
Janning admits guilt and describes the conditions in<br />
Germany <strong>that</strong> led to Naz<strong>is</strong>m.<br />
3. Rolfe’s condemnation of “collaborators”.<br />
(2nd tape, minute 54:50 - 58:10 - 3.5 min.)<br />
(Begin with “Your honor, it <strong>is</strong> my duty to defend..”) The<br />
The film:<br />
A panel of American judges conducts a trial of four German<br />
judges charged with crimes against humanity during the Nazi<br />
regime. All-star cast including Spencer Tracy, Burt<br />
Lancaster, Richard Widmark, Maximillian Schell, Marlene<br />
Dietrich, Judy Garland and a young William Shatner.<br />
defense attorney maintains <strong>that</strong> everyone <strong>is</strong> to blame for the<br />
Nazi atrocities.<br />
4. Judge Haywood’s summation.<br />
(2nd tape, minute 1:10:25 - 1:19:45 - 8.5 min.)<br />
(Begin with “Th<strong>is</strong> tribunal <strong>is</strong> now in session.”)<br />
Suggested d<strong>is</strong>cussion questions:<br />
1. Judges who refused to swear a loyalty oath and wear the<br />
swatzika on their robes lost their jobs. Is it possible to<br />
work within an evil or corrupt system? Is there a point<br />
where <strong>that</strong> <strong>is</strong> no longer the honorable thing to do?<br />
2. The defense attorney ultimately argued <strong>that</strong> everyone<br />
was guilty, from the Germans who voted Hitler into<br />
power, to American industrial<strong>is</strong>ts who profited from the<br />
Third Reich. What purpose was served by bringing to trial<br />
a few hundred of the top officials?<br />
3. What kind of responsibility does each of us have for our<br />
own actions? Is “following orders” a legitimate excuse to<br />
do wrong? How do we decide what <strong>is</strong> right and wrong?<br />
4. Judge Haywood said , "If these murderers were<br />
monsters, th<strong>is</strong> event would have no more moral<br />
significance than an earthquake." What did he mean? Do<br />
you agree?<br />
5. Herr Janning argued <strong>that</strong> the cr<strong>is</strong><strong>is</strong> in Germany made<br />
supposedly temporary measures <strong>that</strong> subverted justice seem<br />
necessary. Do you agree <strong>that</strong> civil liberties can be suspended<br />
for the good of the nation? How does th<strong>is</strong> argument<br />
apply to the anticommun<strong>is</strong>t McCarthy hearings in the<br />
1950s?<br />
6. How does th<strong>is</strong> model differ from the “Truth and Reconciliation”<br />
model used in South Africa?<br />
For more information: <strong>peaceCENTER</strong>, 1443 S. St. Mary’s, San Antonio, TX 78210<br />
(210) 224-HOPE www.salsa.net/peace/popcorn
Romero<br />
(1989)<br />
Runtime: 105 min.<br />
Rating PG-13<br />
H<strong>is</strong>torical Background:<br />
El Salvador, the smallest but most densely populated country<br />
in Central America, was ruled by a cruel military dictators for<br />
most of the 20 th century. In the 1970s, as the oppression<br />
worsened and poverty and human rights ab<strong>uses</strong> increased,<br />
many began to ra<strong>is</strong>e their voices against the violence and repression.<br />
Some of these voices came from the clergy of the<br />
Roman Catholic Church. Empowered by Liberation Theology,<br />
the belief <strong>that</strong> God sides with the poor and <strong>that</strong> Jesus <strong>is</strong><br />
a prime model of both a spiritual and a political revolutionary,<br />
many priests began advocating for social reform and joining<br />
forces with poor and/or indigenous revolutionary groups.<br />
B<strong>is</strong>hop Romero was not among those voices until h<strong>is</strong> dear<br />
friend, Father Rutilio Grande, was assassinated for h<strong>is</strong> radical<br />
views and activities. From <strong>that</strong> point onward, Romero<br />
preached and worked for the rights of the poor and oppressed.<br />
About the rating: PG-13 rating <strong>is</strong> for violence.<br />
Why th<strong>is</strong> film was selected:<br />
The U.S. has a long relationship with our southern neighbors<br />
in the Western Hem<strong>is</strong>phere, though little media attention <strong>is</strong><br />
paid to their struggles. Learning about Latin American politics<br />
can help us understand the pain of oppression—oppression<br />
<strong>that</strong> U.S. foreign policy has played a part in—and the<br />
radical Liberation Theology <strong>that</strong> many contemporary U.S.<br />
theologians have drawn from in dealing with our own problems<br />
of poverty and human rights ab<strong>uses</strong>. Primarily, however,<br />
it <strong>is</strong> important to learn about the peaceful, nonviolent<br />
movements <strong>that</strong> many Latin Americans were involved in, since<br />
U.S. media attention generally foc<strong>uses</strong> on the violent “guerillas.”<br />
Th<strong>is</strong> film <strong>is</strong> a wonderful story of the power of love and<br />
nonviolence.<br />
Recommended excerpts for showing:<br />
1. Taking back the church, the power of the church<br />
(minute 56:10-68:47 – 12 min. 47 sec.)<br />
After releasing h<strong>is</strong> friend, Father Osuna, from the pr<strong>is</strong>on where<br />
he was tortured, Romero goes to v<strong>is</strong>it President-Elect General<br />
Carlos Humberto Romero to d<strong>is</strong>cuss the repression of<br />
the church. The clip proceeds to Aguilares (where Father<br />
Rutilio Grande min<strong>is</strong>tered until h<strong>is</strong> assassination) and we witness<br />
the occupation of the town and the church and B<strong>is</strong>hop<br />
Romero’s courageous act of taking back the sanctuary.<br />
The film:<br />
A biographical account of the last three years of Archb<strong>is</strong>hop Oscar<br />
Adulfo Romero of El Salvador’s life. Beginning just before h<strong>is</strong> appointment<br />
to Archb<strong>is</strong>hop in 1977 and ending just after h<strong>is</strong> death in 1980, the<br />
film traces the events <strong>that</strong> transformed th<strong>is</strong> scholarly moderate, chosen<br />
for h<strong>is</strong> ability to comprom<strong>is</strong>e, into a nonviolent revolutionary martyr for<br />
the human rights of El Salvador’s poor and oppressed.<br />
.�2. Events leading up to Romero’s assassination<br />
(minute 89:14-103:00 – 13 min. 46 sec.)<br />
After Father Osuna <strong>is</strong> killed in pr<strong>is</strong>on, B<strong>is</strong>hop Romero v<strong>is</strong>its<br />
Osuna’s closest friend, Father Morantes. Morantes <strong>is</strong> now<br />
carrying a gun, and he and Romero d<strong>is</strong>cuss the use of violence<br />
to affect change. Th<strong>is</strong> clip includes a montage of<br />
speeches, events and pictures depicting the politics of the<br />
rich, Romero’s min<strong>is</strong>try, pictures of the “D<strong>is</strong>appeared” political<br />
pr<strong>is</strong>oners kidnapped and/or killed by the El Salvadoran<br />
government, and the plot to assassinate the Archb<strong>is</strong>hop. The<br />
film ends shortly after h<strong>is</strong> martyrdom.<br />
Suggested d<strong>is</strong>cussion questions:<br />
1. Liberation theology has been accused of being revolutionary<br />
and of stirring people to violence. Though many believers<br />
in the theology of liberation waged nonviolent conflict, it<br />
<strong>is</strong> true <strong>that</strong> many guerilla fighters throughout Latin America<br />
have used the Hebrew prophets and the radical teachings of<br />
Jesus to justify their violence. Can revolutionary violence<br />
meant to liberate the oppressed be justified? What nonviolent<br />
means can be used to liberate the poor?<br />
2. The U.S. has been criticized for its role in Latin American<br />
politics. B<strong>is</strong>hop Romero wrote to the President to ask him<br />
to stop sending arms to the El Salvadoran military, as they<br />
were only used to kill the oppressed people of the country.<br />
What can and/or should the U.S. military/government/people<br />
do to help the oppressed peoples of the world?<br />
3. The church and the Euchar<strong>is</strong>t (communion) are powerful<br />
themes and symbols throughout the film. Archb<strong>is</strong>hop Romero<br />
and the people of Aguilares showed great courage in taking<br />
back their sanctuary at the r<strong>is</strong>k of being fired upon. How<br />
powerful/meaningful are communities of faith in the U.S.?<br />
What spaces/institutions are meaningful to you? What would<br />
be important enough to you and from where would you draw<br />
the kind of courage it would take to walk unarmed into a line<br />
of armed men?<br />
4. Romero believes—like most liberation theologians—<strong>that</strong><br />
the church <strong>is</strong> the people and <strong>that</strong> its role <strong>is</strong> to side with the<br />
oppressed and to work for liberation. (See Matt. 5:1-12,<br />
Luke 1:52-53, and Luke 4:16-19) Do you agree? What<br />
do you see as the m<strong>is</strong>sion of the church? How can it live<br />
out th<strong>is</strong> m<strong>is</strong>sion?<br />
Guide prepared by Jay McDivitt, <strong>peaceCENTER</strong> intern, Luther College<br />
For more information: <strong>peaceCENTER</strong>, 1443 S. St. Mary’s, San Antonio, TX 78210<br />
(210) 224-HOPE www.salsa.net/peace/popcorn
Erin Brockovich<br />
(2000)<br />
Runtime: 132 min<br />
Rating: R<br />
H<strong>is</strong>torical Background:<br />
In 1952, Pacific Gas & Electric opened its Hinkley Compressor<br />
Station as part of the pipeline system <strong>that</strong> brings<br />
southwest natural gas to PG&E’s service area in route from<br />
California to Texas. At the same time, they began dumping<br />
million of gallons of wastewater from their cooling system<br />
into unlined ponds on the facility property. The cooling<br />
water contained hexavalent chromium (chromium 6), which<br />
subsequently contaminated both the ambient air and the<br />
local groundwater supply to a chromium 6 level 400 times<br />
the EPA’s safety standard. By 1987, the residents of the<br />
high desert town of Hinkley, California, who had been<br />
breathing, ingesting, and absorbing the toxin for decades,<br />
developed a wide range of physical illnesses, including<br />
cancer, respiratory problems, and skin d<strong>is</strong>eases. The<br />
investigation begun by Erin Brockovich led to the biggest<br />
settlement on record for a civil class action lawsuit..<br />
About the rating: R rating <strong>is</strong> exclusively for<br />
language.<br />
Why th<strong>is</strong> film was selected:<br />
Th<strong>is</strong> film addresses two <strong>is</strong>sues in American life: Big<br />
business and the American Dream. First — Big business,<br />
which has enjoyed a long, fruitful, and powerful life in<br />
America, often expresses a lack of compassion for both<br />
employees and customers. Second — the American dream<br />
— to be educated, employed, married with children, and in<br />
your own home — <strong>is</strong> just <strong>that</strong>, a dream. If all people can<br />
really count on <strong>is</strong> to be deceived by the individuals and<br />
companies claiming to help them, what hope <strong>is</strong> there? Th<strong>is</strong><br />
film <strong>is</strong> a triumph of the human spirit — the story of one<br />
woman with no hope and no way who challenges the<br />
system. Her courage, determination, and compassion show<br />
us what <strong>is</strong> possible when human beings care for each other.<br />
Recommended excerpts for showing:<br />
1. The job interview<br />
(Opening scene: 3 minutes)<br />
Erin Brokovich, a provocatively dressed, attractive<br />
young woman interviews unsuccessfully for a job as a<br />
medical ass<strong>is</strong>tant.<br />
The film: Based on the true story of Erin Brockovich, a desperate<br />
out-of-work mother of three who convinces a lawyer to hire her and then<br />
stumbles upon a monumental law case against a huge corporation.<br />
Fueled by a desire to provide for her family and an ever-growing<br />
compassion for the unsuspecting victims of a grave social injustice, the<br />
unlikely Brockovich triumphs over the modern paradigms of social<br />
norms, etiquette, and professional qualifications.<br />
2. Begging for a job<br />
(Minute 10:00 - 16:00: 6 minutes)<br />
After several failed attempts to find work and several<br />
attempts to contact her former lawyer, Ed Masry, Erin<br />
takes matters into her own hands. She demands<br />
employment and asks for an advance on her salary.<br />
3. PG&E’s First Offer<br />
(Minute 50:00-55:00: 5 minutes)<br />
After Masry faxes the first of h<strong>is</strong> claims to the PG&E<br />
legal department, PG&E sends a lawyer to make an<br />
offer on the Jensen’s property near the PG&E plant in<br />
Hinkley. The $28 billion corporation offers the Jensen’s<br />
$250,000.<br />
4. PG&E’s Second Offer<br />
(Minute 86:00-91:00: 5 minutes. Begin with clip of<br />
Jensen throwing rocks toward the PG&E plant.)<br />
The Jensens learn Donna’s cancer <strong>is</strong> malignant. PG&E<br />
lawyers offer Hinkley residents $20 million to settle out<br />
of court. Erin <strong>is</strong> enraged and tells them off.<br />
Suggested d<strong>is</strong>cussion questions:<br />
1. What effect do dress and demeanor have on a person’s<br />
ability to perform well on the job? What qualifies<br />
someone to do a job? Does society have any particular<br />
responsibility to single women ra<strong>is</strong>ing a family?<br />
2. In the film, PG&E headquarters in San Franc<strong>is</strong>co<br />
makes dec<strong>is</strong>ions affecting company operations in<br />
Hinkley, California, more than 300 miles away.<br />
Speculate upon the size and nature of huge companies.<br />
How many levels of management do you suppose<br />
there are? Who deals with the money? Who deals with<br />
the customers? Who deals with local, state, and federal<br />
regulations? How might the organization of such a<br />
company breed a lack of concern for people — both<br />
employees of the company and customers?<br />
3. Notice how preconceived notions based upon appearance<br />
and behavior affect the characters’ attitudes and<br />
actions toward one another. Is th<strong>is</strong> interpretation valid?<br />
How have you seen prejudices and preconceived ideas<br />
about people influence behavior?<br />
Guide prepared by Laura Holck, <strong>peaceCENTER</strong><br />
For more information: <strong>peaceCENTER</strong>, 1443 S. St. Mary’s, San Antonio, TX 78210<br />
(210) 224-HOPE www.salsa.net/peace/popcorn
Movie Rating System<br />
G-GENERAL:<br />
Appropriate for all ages. Th<strong>is</strong> <strong>is</strong> a film containing<br />
nothing which would be offensive to<br />
parents. There are no strong words or sex scenes;<br />
there <strong>is</strong> no nudity or drug content and violence <strong>is</strong><br />
at a minimum.<br />
PG-PARENTAL GUIDANCE:<br />
Parental guidance suggested, contains some<br />
material not suitable for children. There may be<br />
some profanity and some violence. There <strong>is</strong> no<br />
drug use or explicit sex.<br />
PG-13:<br />
Parents are strongly cautioned <strong>that</strong> some<br />
material <strong>is</strong> unsuitable for children under 13. Drug<br />
use would require th<strong>is</strong> rating, as would the single<br />
use of a sexually-derived expletive.<br />
R - RESTRICTED:<br />
Anyone under the age of 17 will require an<br />
accompanying adult or adult guardian. May include<br />
hard language, drug use, tough violence,<br />
nudity within sexual scenes and the use of more<br />
than one expletive.<br />
NC-17:<br />
No one 17 and under admitted